Chico State head basketball coach Greg Clink talks about his team's stellar defensive effort in a weekend sweep of Dominguez Hills and Cal State Los Angeles. He also lets us know how he will feel when he sees his good friend and former assistant Gus Argenal on the opposing sideline this Friday night.

The Chico State men's basketball head coach talks about the season opening loss to Cal State Stanislaus. He explains the areas where the Wildcats need improvement and says the Cats are far from a finished product.

In this week's discussion with Chico State head men's basketball coach Greg Clink we discuss their season opening win over Holy Names, the Saturday night CCAA opener with Cal State Stanislaus and rules changes at the college level and how his team needs to adapt

The Butte College men's basketball team went 1-2 in the Las Positas Tournament last week. Despite a tournament opening win, the Roadrunners dropped a couple of tough games to Chabot and College of the Siskiyous. Head Coach Russ Critchfield talks about how his young team is making great strides but still needs to learn how to finish games.....

In today's installment of the KPAY High School Football Preview Show we look at potential playoff match-ups and break down the points system with its various valuations and sometimes head-scratching inconsistensies....

During this weeks KPAY High School Fooball Preview Show we look at some of the intriguing match-ups this week and re-cap some big games from last Friday night, including Enterprise's big 42-7 win over Paradise. Chico and the Bobcats lock horns on Friday and points should be a premium.

Enjoy the show and tell us what you think @KpayBacaSports

If you have a question for anyone on the panel shoot us a question and we will try and answer it during next weeks' show.....Go to our Twitter accounts to ask us about high school football

There are some great match-ups in the North State tonight as Division's I-IV have games that will have an impact on the section seeding. The most anticipated match-up pits the two participants from last year's Division I Section Title game. The Paradise Bobcats travel to Enterprise to take on the undefeated Hornets. Paradise's running attack is in mid-season form, but will be tested against Enterprise which outlasted Chico High last week in a slug-fest 56-48.

The Valley Bowl will have playoff implications as well. West Valley and Central Valley have been impressive this year. Points should be a-plenty in this match-up.

Biggs and Chester is an intriguing Division IV game. Chester is number one in the media poll, while Biggs is number two. This should be a great game. Division III sees Durham host Trinity. The Trojans have had two weeks to prepare and it should be a good one.

TJ Holmes from the Redding Record Searchlight @tjholmes_RS

Joseph Shufelberger from the Chico Enterprise-Record @JShufelberger

Jeffrey Larson from the Paradise Post @jtlarson

Lee Carrell from Action News 12 & 24 @CarrellLee

Mike Baca KPAY Sports Director @KpayBacaSports @mbaca24

The panel looks at the Paradise/Enterprise match-up

The panel delves into the rivalry that is Paradise and Enterprise and how evenly matched these programs are

The Valley Bowl and Trinity and Durham.....

Biggs/Chester in a Division IV showdown....plus where our panel will be for the games tonight....

JEFF LARSON-PARADISE POST (far left) ACTION NEWS SPORTS ANCHOR LEE CARRELL (middle) and JOSEPH SHUFELBERGER-CHICO ENTERPRISE RECORD (far right) along with TJ HOLMES (not pictured) FROM THE REDDING RECORD SEARCHLIGHT. THEY JOIN KPAY'S MIKE BACA FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW SHOW

We break down this weeks big match-ups in north state high school football.

-Who are some of the stand-out teams so far in the prep ranks ?

-Have there been any power shifts in the Divisions I-IV ?

-Is Enterprise even better than they were last year ?

-Can Paradise stop the turnover bug ?

-What about Chico and PV ?

-Are the Durham Trojans for real ?

-What is the biggest surprise of the season so far ?

LISTEN TO THE KPAY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW SHOW RIGHT HERE (40:04)

Aaron Rodgers was not thinking about a possible record-breaking performance on Sunday when his Packers took on the Washington Redskins. Rodgers was just hoping to get on the field without feeling the effects of a rough night of sleep. Rodgers threw for 480 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Packers rolled Washington 38-20. But, as Rodgers told assembled media after the game, he was just hoping to make it out on the field without feeling sore and stiff....

THE AARON RODGERS MINUTE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY ACCESS REAL ESTATE LENDING. WE ARE STILL OPENING DOORS AT ACCESS REAL ESTATE LENDING.

The Green Bay Packers scored early and often in their dismantling of the Washington Redskiins on Sunday afternoon. Chico's Aaron Rodgers was simply superb throwing for 480 and 4 touchdowns as the Pack move to 1-1 on the season. Rodgers was on pace to set numerous NFL records after throwing for 334 yards in the first half, but Green Bay milked the clock and got their running game going in the second half.

James Starks had a bust out game running for 132 yards and a score as the Packers had all facets working. In today's installment of the Aaron Rodgers Minute, Aaron talks about how great it was to see Starks bust out in a big way and how Starks is such a good teammate....

The Chico State men's basketball team has won seven straight games as they head into the post-season, but the game everyone will remember is their sixth win in a row during that streak. With the Wildcats trailing 66-55 against Cal State Easy Bay with 3:46 left, Chico would finish the game on a run for the ages.

It started with a put-back from Amir Carraway...

The Wildcats would wratchet up their defensive intensity down the stretch, and their sense or urgency was seen on the offensive end as they aggressively attacked the bucket trying to cut down the East Bay lead....

More great defense for Chico would lead to another bucket for the Cats, and the comeback was on....

The Wildcats would get ANOTHER stop and this time Damario Sims would rise up...cutting the Wildcats deficit to one.....

After getting another stop the Wildcats had a chance to win it. Carraway initially missed a three, but the Cats would get the ball back with 13 seconds left underneath their own hoop with a chance to win it.

With Chico State's win over Monterey Bay on Friday night 91-60 and with UC San Diego's 83-70 win over San Francisco State the Wildcats wrapped up third place in the CCAA and a first round CCAA Tournament match-up with Cal State Dominguez Hills. It is not known yet the ramifications of Chico's weekend sweep on the regional ranking. To get into the NCAA Tournament in two weeks, the Cats may need a deep run into the Conference Tournament which begins on Tuesday night at Acker Gym. The Cats will host the Toros at 7:30pm. If Chico wins their first round game they will head to Ontario for the CCAA Tournament Semis from Citizens Bank Arena.

NCAA WEST REGION RANKINGS (FEB 27th)

1. WESTERN WASHINGTON 18-1

2. POMONA 20-2

3. SEATTLE PACIFIC 19-3

4 DIXIE STATE 16-5

5. GRAND CANYON 19-3

6. SAN BERNARDINO 16-6

7. CHAMINADE 15-4

8. SAN FRANCISCO STATE 15-8

9. ALASKA ANCHORAGE 12-6

10. CHICO STATE 13-9

*The top eight teams make it into the NCAA Tournament. The field will be announced on March 11th

CHICO STATE HEAD MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH GREG CLINK TALKS ABOUT A TOUGH ROAD TRIP WHERE

CHICO'S DEFENSE GAVE UP 80 OR MORE POINTS IN BACK-TO-BACK GAMES.

Clink says his team needs to get back to basics defensively as they get ready for San Francisco State and Sonoma State this weekend. The Wildcats are 10-8 overall and 7-7 in the CCAA. Chico is in a tie for that coveted fourth spot in the CCAA standings. The top four teams get to host first round CCAA playoff games on March 5th.

CHICO STATE HEAD COACH GREG CLINK SAYS HIS TEAM WILL REBOUND FROM A TOUGH WEEKEND

IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AS THEY RETURN HOME FOR A PAIR AT ACKER THIS WEEKEND

In today's installment of Clink's Corner Chico State head basketball coach Greg Clink says his team is prepared to bounce back after two losses in the Los Angeles basin last weekend. The Wildcats dropped a heart-breaker 54-53 to Cal State Los Angeles and then were over-whelmed by Cal State Dominguez Hills 67-41 on Saturday.

The Wildcats not only lost the game on Friday, but lost two starters to injuries in the waning moments of the game that kept them out of Saturday's match-up with the Toros. Jason Conrad was fouled hard going for a dunk with a little more than five minutes left and suffered two cuts to his face and a concussion after falling hard to the hardwood. Just minutes later Amir Carraway pulled a hamstring and could not play Saturday as well. Combine those injuries with Sean Park recovering from an ankle sprain suffered two weeks ago.....and the Cats were without three pivotal players in their Saturday match-up.

Clink said he gave the Wildcats Monday off to recuperate and rest after four straight road games. He told KPAY it is still too early to tell the availability of Park, Conrad and Carraway this weekend, but says they are making progress. In today's Clink's Corner he talks about the importance of the 7-foot Conrad to the Wildcats defensive scheme and also his club's inability to hit three point shots (6-for-49) over the weekend.

Clink's Corner is brought to you by Grower Direct Nut Company. Former Chico State Wildcat Aaron Martella is the owner and CEO of Grower Direct Nut. Processors, shippers and growers of healthy delicious California walnuts. Grower Direct Nut.

KPAY'S Mike Baca had a chance this week to talk with San Francisco Giants 3rd base coach Tim Flannery about a benefit concert for Bryan Stow. Stow was injured in an attack in the Dodger Stadium parking lot on opening day of the 2011 season. His family faces life-long medical bills and Flannery has been playing benefit concerts for Stow for more than a year....One of those concerts will be broadcast on Comcast Hometown Network (Channel 104) this Saturday night at 8pm....that is the Comcast Hometown Network.....

CHICO'S OWN JORDAN RODGERS THROWS FOR TWO TOUCHDOWNS AND RUNS FOR ANOTHER AS VANDY GETS BIG WIN OVER THE WOLFPACK IN THE MUSIC CITY BOWL

COURTESY: The Baxter Bulletin

The Southeastern Conference is so strong that now even Vanderbilt, yes Vandy, is winning like the Commodores haven’t in nearly a century.

Pleasant Valley High and Butte College product Jordan Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as the Vanderbilt Commodores capped their best season since 1915 Monday by beating North Carolina State 38-24 in the Music City Bowl.

Rodgers was nearly flawless in leading Vandy to the win, as the Commodores used a punishing running

attack to control the game from the outset.

The Commodores finished 9-4 for their best record since going 9-1 in 1915, and it’s only the third time the smallest and only private university in the Southeastern Conference has won as many as nine games in a season. They also finished with seven straight wins, their longest streak since winning eight in 1948.

Vanderbilt forced a season-high five turnovers, including four in the first half, and turned those into 17 points.

N.C. State (7-6) wrapped up the season under interim coach Dana Bible snapping a two-game bowl winning streak. The Wolfpack had their fifth game this season with at least four turnovers, and that helped wipe out a 424-225 advantage in total offense.

This was the 27th bowl all-time for N.C. State, and the Wolfpack had every coach working this game except Tom O’Brien, who was fired at the end of the regular season. But a team that ranked second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in turnovers couldn’t overcome its own mistakes, which also included a bad shotgun snap that cost the Wolfpack 21 yards on the opening drive.

Vandy coach James Franklin got a contract extension a month ago for guiding the Dores to a second straight bowl game for the first time in school history. Franklin didn’t change anything that got his Commodores here as he went for it on fourth down, used the wildcat repeatedly and even had senior running back Zac Stacy attempt a halfback pass to Rodgers.

The Commodores took control from the opening drive, moving 65 yards for a touchdown that put them ahead to stay. Officials initially called Chris Boyd out of bounds, but review showed the sophomore got the toes of his right foot down for a 5-yard TD pass from Rodgers.

Stifling defense and a balanced inside-outside attack helped lead the Chico State Wildcats to a weekend sweep of both Pomona and Humboldt State. Chico State was able to hold Humboldt to a dreadful 1-for-23 from 3-point range and the Cats took advantage of 25 Lumberjack turnovers in their 64-49 win on Saturday night.

The Wildcat women are now 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the CCAA. The Cats host the CCAA/GNAC Challenge/Coslet Classic on Friday and Saturday. Perennial powers Seattle Pacific and Western Washington come to Acker. Game times are 5:30 and 7:30 both nights, with the Wildcats tipping as the later game both nights. You can catch all the action on Newstalk 1290 KPAY and KPAY.com

CHICO STATE CENTER JASON CONRAD HAD A MONSTER GAME ON SATURDAY AS CHICO STYMIES THE HUMBOLDT STATE LUMBERJACKS AT ACKER GYM

The Chico State men's basketball team split their weekend CCAA match-ups. After falling to Cal Poly Pomona on Friday night 67-64 the Wildcats smothered their arch-rivals, the Humboldt State Lumberjacks 63-48 on Saturday. They were led by Damario Sims who scored 18 points, knocking down all eight of his free throws. Jason Conrad had a monster game scoring 11 points and pulling down 9 boards. He also limited Humboldt big man Alec Williams to 3-of-15 shooting as the Cats move to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the CCAA. Mike Baca has your Monday morning Wildcat wrap-up....

Chico State Men's Head Basketball Coach Greg Clink joins us for his weekly installment of the Clink's Corner.

The Wildcats beat Colorado-Springs on Friday night 68-44, but were then beaten 79-47 in a showdown with 7th ranked Seattle-Pacific. Clink says his 17th ranked Wildcats will learn from the up-and-down weekend.....

BIG FREE AGENT CONTRACTS ARE A BIG REASON WHY MLB IS DEMANDING MORE MONEY FOR

BROADCAST RIGHTS FEES.....WILL THEY ULTIMATELY BE PUSHED ON TO CONSUMER ?

For Major League Baseball, the television money just keeps on coming. And coming.

Ratings, at least for national games that include marquee events like the World Series and All-Star Game, have been flat for years. Yet the money keeps coming. Wall Street media analysts warn that many households are near the end of their ropes when it comes to absorbing higher cable and satellite bills that invariably get passed down to them as networks paying out higher rights fees look to recoup some of that money by charging local operators more per subscriber. Yet the money keeps coming.

A month ago, MLB signed a deal with ESPN to renew baseball coverage through 2021. The contract is worth roughly $700 million a year, almost double the $360 million the current deal pays, which has one more year to run. For additional perspective, the fee is also about five times what ESPN was paying baseball before 2006. ESPN does get a couple of goodies from the new agreement, including the right to air “live look-ins” of games in progress, a feature that baseball currently limits to its own MLB Network.

Once the 2014 baseball season arrives, look for ever more knock-down drag-out fights between networks and cable companies over subscription fees, the same kind that led to Fox pulling part of the 2010 World Series between the Rangers and Giants from Cablevision in New York. With more and more money at stake, these battles are just going to get nastier.

Up next: Turner and Fox. Both are closing in on renewals that are expected to result in a doubling of rights fees as well, to a combined $1.3 billion for same eight-year period of 2014 to 2021. Again, for perspective: in the late 1990s, Fox and NBC were paying under $200 million a year combined to share the national baseball market.

The networks’ bet: that baseball and other premium sports programming will hold up as the glue that holds together the product bundle that cable companies push into homes. It’s a bundle, notes sports media consultant Chris Beviliaqua, that includes phone service, internet access and about 100 cable channels that the customers rarely watch. Sports, including baseball, “is the Trojan horse that gets you into the house,” he says. But as many of the bundle’s components become available elsewhere - T.V. programming at Hulu, phone service going strictly mobile, etc. – they fall out of the pay TV ecosystem. That would render sports a standalone asset, not a centerpiece for peddling additional services. Hence, less valuable.

“The networks deciced to lock in with these rights fees long term, and if the business model changes they end up stuck with them,” says Bevilacqua.

Hefty fees in local markets make some degree of sense – baseball fans are tribal creatures that tend to focus on their own clubs. But now the national money is shooting through the roof, too, even though ratings for the World Series and All-Star Game have been at or near historic lows during this decade (the last World Series to average more than 30 million viewers per game – the Braves-Indians matchup in 1995, a time when the World Wide Web was just becoming commonplace in most households and starting to take TV viewers. The public was also getting its first World Series taste in two years, after a players’ strike had wiped out the 1994 Series).

But “those historic lows are still pretty dependable in this fragmented market,” notes Adam Chase, says Adam Chase, an attorney with the Washington D.C. law firm Dow Lohnes who specializes in media and technology in the sports industry. In other words, Fox, ESPN and Turner are confident they’ll get a consistent audience with a favorable demographic for baseball, even if the lower, fragmented numbers are here to stay.

It's no secret that hockey is a niche sport in America. Always has been, always will be.

Only 8.8 percent of Americans who are at least 12 years old call themselves avid hockey fans, according to an ESPN Sports Poll. That's compared to the 34.3 percent of Americans in that age bracket who call themselves NFL fans.

But those fans who are die-hard are seemingly more attached to the game than hard-core fans in other sports, and people who consider themselves casual fans seem more likely to show up to a baseball game or a basketball game than get behind the boards.

What does that mean? It means the league relies mostly on guys such as Nick Mancuso, and it knows where it stands.

In a Twitter poll I took, 76.5 percent of people who called themselves hockey fans said a season off wouldn't affect their interest. As for those who answered they'd walk away, I'm sure most of them wouldn't.

And that's why commissioner Gary Bettman had no problem recommending to the owners to lock out the players in 2004 and again this year.

The bottom line is that there will be virtually no consequences from losing a season, if that's what it takes to get the players to fold. Sure, hockey fans might take to watching other sports to keep them busy, but they'll be back.

Owners of teams that had great seasons won't lose much momentum. If they own their arenas, they can get aggressive booking acts to help pay off debt. And remember, they're still getting $200 million from NBC not to play. That's because union executive director Donald Fehr and his cohorts somehow haven't run to the courts to get an injunction against the owners taking that money despite the league not playing. Hint: The NFL union successfully got the league's money put aside.

When Bettman and the owners locked out the players and missed the entire season in 2004-05, people thought Bettman had made a horrible miscalculation. It turned out to be genius. The league got the concessions it wanted -- well, at least for the time -- and fans came back. Now, owners lockouts are par for the course after the NBA and NFL went through it last year. By the way, those leagues also came back stronger than ever.

Even if the players have the strongest union leader in the history of sports in Fehr, the rule is billionaires always beat millionaires.

But the owners aren't doing this because they know the players will fold. They're doing it because they know the fans won't leave them.

"They know who we all are," Mancuso said. "We know the game, we play the game, we coach the game. They know I'm still going to buy a Winter Classic jersey."

Any sponsor who wanted to associate themselves with American gymnasts during the Olympic Games identified Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin and Jordyn Wieber as ideal endorsers.

But Johnson's comeback fell short, Liukin failed to qualify for the Games and Wieber didn't make the All-Around competition.

By the time Gabby Douglas emerged on the scene when she bested Wieber at the AT&T American Cup at Madison Square Garden in March, it was too late for most sponsors to jump on board.

Olympic sponsor Procter & Gamble did a last-minute deal with Douglas when she made the team, and Kellogg's signed her to a cereal box deal contingent on her winning a gold.

Now with Douglas emerging as the top star, having won the All-Around and team gold, the fact that she didn't sign many deals before the Games means she can ask for more money now.

"It was definitely to her advantage that the focus was on Wieber prior to the Games," said Douglas' agent Sheryl Shade. "Since she had her coming out at the American Cup in March, most Olympic sponsors had already finalized their campaigns."

Shade said she has been pitched endorsement proposals, including from Fortune 100 companies, that Douglas will review starting Tuesday.

Aside from appearing on boxes of Corn Flakes, Shade said Douglas will receive a bump in how much she makes on a traveling gymnastics tour, sponsored by Kellogg's, which begins next month.

Nastia Liukin was prominently featured on the tour's posters, but you can bet event organizers will soon put Douglas out front.

Douglas ranks No. 4 in social media buzz among Olympians, after Michael Phelps, British diver Tom Daley and Ryan Lochte, according to analytics company Bluefin Labs. There were 647,000 comments about her on August 2, the day she won the All-Around gold.

NBC said Monday that Douglas, nicknamed the "Flying Squirrel," was the most-clicked athlete on its Olympics website. More than 18 million people clicked on highlights of Douglas -- that's roughly 1½ times more than the second-most viewed athlete, Michael Phelps.

Based on what previous All-Around winners have taken home in endorsements, Douglas could expect to make between $8 million and $12 million over the next four years.

But even Shade says that projection might be high.

"Gabrielle competes in 2016, so she will not have the time to make appearances and/or endorse products as much," Shade said. "However, the next six months will be very lucrative."

So what categories most interest the 16-year-old?

Shade says she likes orange juice and peanut butter, loves technology and fashion and is ready to pitch a car brand.

"She is about to get her license," Shade said.

Bluefin Labs also might have some good tips on what could be next for Douglas. The social media analytics firm says that people who tweet about Gabby Douglas are most likely to also tweet about DirecTV, Victoria's Secret, Macy's, Target and Chipotle.

Douglas finished last on the uneven bars Tuesday, but that's unlikely to affect her earning potential because she wasn't expected to medal in that event.